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    Lewis & Clark, 10/2005

    Key Lecture Points:

    • November 7, 2005 is the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark and their “Corps of Discovery” viewing the Pacific Ocean after an 18 month journey from St. Louis (on the Mississippi River) across the western United States. After spending the winter on what is today the Oregon coast, the Corps began their journey back, arriving in St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

    • The journey is one that fascinates Americans to this day particularly as it relates to the “opening” of the American West to the fledgling United States. Lewis and Clark set off a mere two months after France had formally transferred the Louisiana territory to the US. As such, Lewis and Clark are considered by some to be the original American pioneers.

    • Additionally, the journey marks a crucial juncture in the history of strained relations between the US Federal Government and Native American peoples. In their 26-month journey, Lewis and Clark came in contact with approximately 50 different Native American tribes from Missouri to Oregon, some of which had never seen a white skinned person before. At each meeting, Lewis and Clark would announce the new sovereignty of the US over the land that these tribes occupied.

    • Finally, the journey fascinates because it is just a plain old great story (rated PG), with plot twists, heroes and villains (of both European and Native descent) and a positively Shakespearian ending (with Clark living a happy and fulfilled life and Lewis dead by his own hand a mere three years after his heroic journey). The journey was harrowing, but remarkably free of death. Only one Corps member died (of appendicitis), and there was only one deadly conflict between the Corps and the Native Americans (killing two Blackfeet Indians who, according to journal reports, were attempting to steal horses).

    For More Information:
    • PBS website containing comprehensive timeline of events as well as full texts of the journals of the Corps: http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive/index.html
    • National Geographic coverage of the Bicentennial of Lewis and Clark: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/index.html

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